Sophie passed the Nice Cream guy's nice cream stand, and completely ignored it. She wasn't really feeling like an ice cream right now, at all, even though really it was monster food and would just work for healing. Still too cold for her. She still didn't really think she had a proper inventory, beyond just shoving stuff in her pockets.
When she crossed the bridge, she came across the Ball game. "Hey Chara, know anything about this?"
"Navigate the 'Ball' to the hole, and get a flag and a reward."
Just about right. She picked up the ball, and carried it over to the hole, because actually kicking it properly or anything like that was too mainstream. It also looked basically impossible to direct. Hopefully she'd get a neat flag.
She dropped it in, and a dark blue flag rose up.
"What's this mean?"
"Your knowledge of the game let you circumvent the normal obstacles, you cheater. You're awarded 0G."
Sounds about right. "Thanks, Chara," Sophie said, smiling.
She walked out of the exit to the right again, and came to the wordsearch, sitting on the ground. Papyrus was watching, expectantly, and he looked like he was about to burst with excitement when Sophie picked up the wordsearch.
Unfortunately for the puzzle, it was already filled out in blue crayon. There was a little note, in the corner. Four letters, in Wingdings.
The note looked like an invitation to turn the puzzle over, which was consistent with the fact that it was four letters long. She obliged, and turned the puzzle over. As expected, there were some markings on the back.
It looked like a diagram of some sort. Sophie couldn't actually tell what it was meant to be of; the crayon was somehow fading, despite Sophie being pretty sure that that wasn't a thing that happened, and the diagram itself didn't have much of a shape. There were labels, which would have helped if they weren't written in chicken-scratch Wingdings.
Papyrus always loved puzzles, though. Sophie walked up to him.
"Hey, Papyrus. What do you think of this?"
She showed him the reverse side of the wordsearch. He looked at it for a few brief moments.
"AHA! HAS THE HUMAN FINALLY MET THEIR MATCH?"
Sophie just continued walking past Papyrus.
"No, I solved the puzzle ages ago. Just wondering if you could solve it, too."
Papyrus recoiled, in some physical display of offense.
"DARE THE HUMAN SAY THAT A PUZZLE IS BEYOND ME? A CHALLENGE! ONE THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL NOT SHY AWAY FROM!"
"Well, if you figure it out, tell me. I'll be in Grillby's."
Sophie kept walking, with Papyrus apparently having forgotten what he was there for in favour of watching the 'puzzle' intently and trying to figure it out. He'd probably realise what was going on and chase after her to tend the puzzles in the future, so she didn't really have much Papyrus-free time.
Not that she really wanted it, per se. Befriending Sans' brother would be a surefire way to his heart, and access to whatever knowledge he has about travelling between timelines.
She came across the cold spaghetti, which Papyrus had helpfully left. There was a mousehole, but no wall panel for saving. Sophie guessed that there wasn't enough foresight in this area to warrant a save point, or something like that.
She walked over to the microwave, and inspected it. All of the settings said spaghetti. She tried to pick up the spaghetti, but it was stuck to the table from the cold. Her hands started freezing just from contact with it, so she decided to stop trying to mess with it.
No spaghetti here, unfortunately. She'd need to tell Papyrus the bad news about it.
She kept walking, and saw a sign. "Warning: Dog Marriage," it read. On the tree just beside it, there was a save panel in the wall. She saved there, and heard Chara talking.
"Knowing that Dogamy and Dogaressa are ahead fills you with foresight."
Ah, those dogs. To beat them, she'd just have to roll around on the ground, to start smelling like a puppy. The only problem was that it was absolutely freezing, so there was no way she was going to coat herself in snow.
That meant she needed another way to circumvent the fight.
"How do you end a fight with a dog?"
"You consider the options."
Way to be thoroughly unhelpful, Chara. Not like Sophie could blame them, since she was coming up empty-handed with solutions herself. Except for – of course. Sticks.
She looked at the tree, and inspected it for fallen or loose branches. She saw none on the ground – any sticks must be obscured by snow – but the tree had several thin branches that may be possible to snap.
She reached for one, and tried to break it off, but all it did was bend. When it eventually came off, it stuck to the tree with annoying, still-living plant fibers, and was much more difficult to break off than it was worth.
She tried to snap off the leaves and sub-branches containing leaves by twisting them and then breaking them off, to make it look more stick-like and possible to throw. It would do no good to have air resistance have the branch stop too short for a reasonable game of fetch or anything.
Once she was satisfied (or, alternately, bored of playing around with a branch), she walked downwards, towards the snowy map. She turned around once she realised what it was, but came face to face with a dog wearing armour. Oh great, it was Lesser Dog.
She went to the battle screen, and the four familiar options for action came to the front of her awareness as she gained direct, physical control of her soul.
"Hey Chara. What do you think of this guy?"
"Lesser Dog. 12 attack, 2 defence. Likes being pet."
It (or a magical attack shaped like it) leapt at her soul, and she moved it to dodge out of the way, but a little too late. The recent save point had healed her fully, but it wasn't that bad.
Fortunately, she had the ultimate weapon against dogs. She tossed the stick, and Lesser Dog chased after it and retrieved it, panting. It dropped it at her feet, and she picked it up, carefully avoiding the part where the dog's mouth had been. It looked at her, cocking its head to one side.
She spared it after a moment's hesitation, and the battle ended. She kept walking upwards, and then to the right, finding a clearer patch between several trees. She reached down, and fumbled through the snow, her Tough Glove doing maddeningly little to make the cold more managable. She soon found the lever, and pulled it up.
She walked back down, past the spikes which had then retracted (feeling somewhat foolish, since she was sure she could have just jumped over them without needing to go to all the trouble of pulling the lever), and approached the platform where Dogamy and Dogaressa lived.
One more try at getting Chara to talk about something that isn't in the immediate surroundings before the miniboss fight, first, since she didn't have a very good handle on her soul and remembered that dodging the axes was quite hard. It'd only be a turn, then she could throw the stick and have it over and done with, but still.
"Hey Chara, how do you feel about Asriel?"
There were a few moments of silence, and then Sophie heard a soft crackling sound. "Him," said Chara, and then their voice just faded away into silence again.
She took some steps forward, and the two canine royal guards approached her.
"What's that smell?" they said, one after the other. "If you're a smell, identify yoursmellf!"
They walked around for a bit. Sophie considered just running, but decided that it would be too much effort just to get out of a battle she could circumvent with one action.
They then returned. "Smells like a human. It makes me want to eliminate! Eliminate that smell!"
Sophie entered the battle screen, and threw the stick. The two dogs swung down their axes (or axe-shaped magic, if there was even a functional difference here), and Sophie was only just able to dodge underneath them, through some miracle being able to time her motion correctly even considering the delay.
Considering their job done enough, they both ran after the stick, then returned with it, each one carrying a different end of it.
Making both ends impossible to carry, which sucked.
She spared them, and took the stick, making sure to carry it in her gloved hand. The two dogs started talking.
"A smell that throws sticks can't smell too bad."
"You can pass."
They both walked off, leaving Sophie alone again.